Suhm's nicknames
Jan. 16th, 2021 08:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mildred_of_midgard posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
rheinsbergMy favorite envoy, Suhm, had two nicknames that we know of: Diablotin and Diaphane.
1) The first one is used in letters between Fritz and Wilhelmine after Wilhelmine moved to Bayreuth:
selenak: Wilhelmine writes in March 1736: I am delighted you're spending your time so agreeably; I would love to join your sessions and learn philosophy in your school. I suspect little Diablotin - for this is how we used to call Suhm back in the day, didn't we? - needs his own philosophy dearly; for he isn't popular at court, and in a bad financial position.
selenak: If Fritz and Wilhelmine, neither of whom were tall, call him "little", I assume Suhm was Heinrich's size?
Our theory is that the Diablotin nickname was the first one assigned to him, and that it came about because his predecessor as Saxon envoy was Manteuffel, called "the Devil" for obvious reasons, and Suhm was short. The kids probably called the successor "little Devil" before getting to know him.
2) The nickname "Diaphane" is the one used in the Fritz/Suhm correspondence. Fritz writes "Diaphane or Diablotin" on March 25, 1736 to Wilhelmine, suggesting to me that he's gotten used to calling Suhm Diaphane, whereas Wilhelmine, who moved away, only knows him by his old nickname.
The significance of this nickname has been debated by historians: a play on "Durchlaucht", a nod to his open-heartedness, etc.
My own theory is that it's an enlightenment metaphor, and Fritz saw Suhm as someone who "let the light through" into his dark world; both the light of learning and reason into the darkness caused by FW's hatred of same, and the light of love and affection into Fritz's abusive, clinically depressed life.
This interpretation is supported by a passage in Krockow's double portrait of Friz and Heinrich: Frederick perceived [Keyserlingk's] appearance as "the sun breaking through the frosty winter fog." It implies that Fritz did see his friends this way.
ETA: Butfelis has since turned up the earliest attestation of "Diaphane" so far in 1728, used by Suhm as his moniker in the Anti-sobriety society, suggesting that Suhm maybe picked it himself and it has a meaning we haven't yet deciphered.
1) The first one is used in letters between Fritz and Wilhelmine after Wilhelmine moved to Bayreuth:
selenak: Wilhelmine writes in March 1736: I am delighted you're spending your time so agreeably; I would love to join your sessions and learn philosophy in your school. I suspect little Diablotin - for this is how we used to call Suhm back in the day, didn't we? - needs his own philosophy dearly; for he isn't popular at court, and in a bad financial position.selenak: If Fritz and Wilhelmine, neither of whom were tall, call him "little", I assume Suhm was Heinrich's size?Our theory is that the Diablotin nickname was the first one assigned to him, and that it came about because his predecessor as Saxon envoy was Manteuffel, called "the Devil" for obvious reasons, and Suhm was short. The kids probably called the successor "little Devil" before getting to know him.
2) The nickname "Diaphane" is the one used in the Fritz/Suhm correspondence. Fritz writes "Diaphane or Diablotin" on March 25, 1736 to Wilhelmine, suggesting to me that he's gotten used to calling Suhm Diaphane, whereas Wilhelmine, who moved away, only knows him by his old nickname.
The significance of this nickname has been debated by historians: a play on "Durchlaucht", a nod to his open-heartedness, etc.
My own theory is that it's an enlightenment metaphor, and Fritz saw Suhm as someone who "let the light through" into his dark world; both the light of learning and reason into the darkness caused by FW's hatred of same, and the light of love and affection into Fritz's abusive, clinically depressed life.
This interpretation is supported by a passage in Krockow's double portrait of Friz and Heinrich: Frederick perceived [Keyserlingk's] appearance as "the sun breaking through the frosty winter fog." It implies that Fritz did see his friends this way.
ETA: But
felis has since turned up the earliest attestation of "Diaphane" so far in 1728, used by Suhm as his moniker in the Anti-sobriety society, suggesting that Suhm maybe picked it himself and it has a meaning we haven't yet deciphered.
